Two people have been rescued from under debris after a major explosion at a construction site left 12 people injured and structural damage more than a kilometer away in a new residential area in Ottawa’s Orleans district.
• Read also: [EN IMAGES] Explosion destroys several homes and injures 12 in Ottawa
A first individual was rescued shortly after 7 a.m., less than an hour after the explosion, using chainsaws that allowed first responders to cut their way through the debris, firefighter Nicholas DeFazio said at the start. Monday afternoon.
The second person was found around 9:30 a.m. after a larger intervention requiring the stabilization of a building under construction, but already demolished by the blast of the explosion.
A total of four houses in two separate areas were devastated, but dozens of others, freshly built but damaged, had to be evacuated. The number of people displaced and received by the Red Cross was still not known by the authorities.
Ottawa Fire Services has confirmed that the exact cause of the explosion, related to a gas leak, remains unknown, but an investigation by municipal police, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority and of the Ontario Ministry of Labor was still ongoing.
Repairs for new homes
Syed Jamil was still flabbergasted hours after the event. Located less than 200 meters from the place, the father of the family said he left the house at the time of the explosion when it was dark.
“At the first explosion, we all thought it was an earthquake. The families ran out with the children in a hurry, without coats or anything,” he says.
All over the ground, on the roofs of houses and on vehicles are the pink shreds of insulating wool that snowed over much of the neighborhood after the explosion.
Shattered panes, dismounted windows, cracks in the walls: Syed Jamil and other residents of the neighborhood met by the QMI Agency said they called their insurance after the worst past fears.
“I called insurance immediately. All the houses in the area, we called each other among neighbors, we met in the street, and everyone said they had damage,” said Mr. Jamil.
His uncle, who lives more than a kilometer away, also noticed cracks in one of the windows.
“The sound was really, really loud. It’s as if a plane had crashed into our house,” said Mana Karki, who lives nearby and who took the day off.
Due to a completely shattered window in their son’s room, Mrs. Karki and her husband had to wear their coats indoors due to the cold air entering the house.